Recently, expectation for a large-screen wall-mount television set as a bi-directional information terminal has increased. Display devices therefor include many devices such as a liquid-crystal display panel, a field emission display, an electroluminescence display, and the like. Among these display devices, much attention has focused on a plasma display panel (hereinafter, referred to as “PDP”) as a thin display device excellent in visibility because it is a self light-emitting type display device capable of displaying beautiful images and realizing a large screen easily, etc. Development of higher definition and larger screen PDPs is under way.
PDPs are roughly classified into AC type and DC type in terms of driving, and also classified into surface discharge type and opposing discharge type. For higher definition, larger screen and ease in manufacturing, at present, PDP of AC type and surface discharge type is becoming prevalent.
FIG. 22 shows an example of a panel structure of a conventional PDP. The PDP includes front panel 101 and rear panel 102 disposed opposing each other. Note here that in FIG. 22, for easy understanding of the structure, front panel 101 and rear panel 102 are drawn separately.
Front panel 101 includes plural pairs of stripe-shaped display electrodes 106 composed of scan electrode 104 and sustain electrode 105 on transparent front substrate 103 such as a glass substrate made of a sodium borosilicate glass made by the floating method. Dielectric layer 107 is formed so as to cover a group of display electrodes 106. Protective film 108 made of MgO is formed on dielectric layer 107. Note here that scan electrode 104 and sustain electrode 105 are respectively composed of transparent electrodes 104a and 105a and bus electrodes 104b and 105b which are made of Cr/Cu/Cr, Ag, or the like and electrically connected to transparent electrodes 104a and 105a. 
On the other hand, rear panel 102 includes address electrodes 110 in the direction intersecting display electrodes 106 on rear substrate 109 disposed opposing front substrate 103. Dielectric layer 111 is formed so as to cover address electrode 110. On dielectric layer 111 between address electrodes 110, a plurality of stripe-shaped barrier ribs 112 are formed in parallel to address electrodes 110. On the side faces of a part between barrier ribs 112 and on the surface of dielectrics layer 111, phosphor layers 113 are formed. For color displaying, phosphor layers 113 are usually arranged in the order of red, green, and blue.
Front panel 101 and rear panel 102 are disposed opposing each other with barrier ribs 112 interposed therebetween and sealed together at the peripheries with a sealing material such that display electrode 106 and address electrode 110 intersect each other and small discharge space is formed inside. Discharge gas obtained by mixing Ne (neon), Xe (xenon), and the like, is filled in the discharge space at a pressure of about 66500 Pa (500 Torr). Thus, the PDP is formed.
The discharge space of the PDP is divided into a plurality of partitions by barrier ribs 112. Display electrodes 106 are provided orthogonal to address electrode 110 so that a plurality of discharge cells, which are unit light-emitting regions, are formed between barrier ribs 112.
In this PDP, images are displayed by generating electric discharge by a periodic voltage applied to address electrode 110 and display electrode 106, and irradiating phosphor layer 113 with ultraviolet light generated by the electric discharge, so that the ultraviolet light is converted into visible light by the phosphor layer 113.
FIG. 23 is a plan view showing a schematic configuration of an image display part of a PDP. As shown in FIG. 23, scan electrode 104 and sustain electrode 105 constituting display electrode 106 are arranged extending in the column direction with discharge gap 114 interposed therebetween in each line of a matrix display. Therefore, a region, which is divided by barrier ribs 112 and in which display electrode 106 and address electrode 110 intersect each other, becomes discharge cell 115 that is a unit light-emitting region. Furthermore, non-light emitting region 116 may be provided with a black stripe (not shown) for the purpose of improving contrast. The configuration of a conventional PDP is disclosed in a non-patent document “Plasma Display Panel no subete (All about Plasma Display Panel)” (Heiju Uchiike and Shigeo Mikoshiba, Kogyo Chosakai Publishing Inc., May 1, 1997, p 79-p 80).
PDP is required to have higher brightness, higher efficiency, lower power consumption, and lower cost. A method for achieving high brightness includes, for example, in a configuration shown in FIG. 23, a method of broadening a discharging region by narrowing non light-emitting region 116 between neighboring discharge cells 115 so as to broaden the interval between the electrodes at the side of discharge gap 114. However, in this case, there may be a problem that discharge error between neighboring discharge cells 115 is increased. In order to solve such a problem, it is thought that discharge error is suppressed by forming barrier ribs 112 in a lattice, which, however, may make it difficult to satisfactorily release impurity gas from an inner space of the PDP and to fill discharge gas into the inner space of the PDP.
In view of the above-mentioned problems, the present invention was made and the object thereof is to realize a PDP capable of suppressing discharge error, satisfactorily releasing impurity gas from an inner space of the PDP and filling discharge gas into the inner space of the PDP, thus improving brightness and image quality.